Wednesday, June 12, 2013

As of this morning, there were 4918 siblings at my house, a
cold water flat on the 5th floor of an incubator high rise just
south of the mother water.Life here is
tolerable, if not measurably pleasant.

Snapshot: Hello Jack, Hello Jenny, oh pardon me, I’m sorry for bumping
you, Who just smacked me with their tail, Hmm I think I’ll just lay down for a
little nap.

Today I was working on eating the last of my yolk sack and
stitching myself up (I’m trying the new dissolving sutures and will compare to
the natural method applied by my co-habitants) when unexpectedly there was a
bright light, the water sloshed and there, I kid you not, stood the most
hideous monstrosity I have ever seen, so huge, its’ horrendous face clad in
fur, peering in at us.My mother once
told me, well, umm, my instincts passed onto me from my mother told me
SWIM!HIDE!RELEASE BUBBLES!

Snapshot:Out of my way Jack!Move it Jill!Well that’s what you get for being slow. Every fish for itself!Move over, there’s room for one more!

The cloth laden beast grasped my home in its malformed
appendages and pulled it out of the water.Can you say utter chaos?I almost
believed the sandwich board Jill used to wear around that read “The end is
dry”.The goliath ripped the roof off
and then dumped us head over fin, into…

A big white sea filled with others of my kind.Thousands of my kind, from different mothers,
with different spot patterns.Granted,
many were screaming and hiding and I can’t really blame them as our house did
just get capsized by a leviathan, but I knew we were on the verge of something
great.For one thing, if I chose, I
didn’t have to sleep sandwiched by my brothers, and for another, I could swim!

“Brothers, Sisters” I shouted.“This is one small swim for Chinook, and one
giant swim for Chinook kind!Gather
round and I shall tell you my vision.”

Unfortunately they were too busy hiding, but, not every fish
can be a super intelligent Chinook fry.Then the light grew dim and our home began to move.

Most of my brothers and sisters were starting to calm down.There is something about a wave pool that’s
just so relaxing.Suddenly a hatch, here
to for unknown, opened and out we all went down the water slide until
splashdown, into the massive place I now call home.

Snapshot:Queue Wipeout by the Surfaris.Fish in Bermuda shorts and shades, Hula
skirted salmon, lays, a fishy festival of fun!

By day’s end, our first actual day in the sun, the world was
our oyster, and we found our new home was the pearl.8 square meals, oxygen galore, a flow to die
for, seasons, light cycles, protection from predators, and 100,000 new friends
(all named Jack, Jill and Jenny).

About Me

Located at the confluence of the Main Stem and North Fork Clearwater Rivers in north-central Idaho, the Dworshak National Fisheries Complex consists of Dworshak and Kooskia National Fish Hatcheries, the Idaho Fisheries Resource Office, and the Idaho Fish Health Center.
Dworshak National Fish Hatchery is funded by the Army Corps of Engineers and co-managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho. Both Dworshak and Kooskia work hard to ensure the return of salmon and steeelhead from the Pacific Ocean to the Clearwater River.